National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO Lassen Volcanic National Park, California Vital Signs Water Quality Data Management in the National Park Service by Dean Tucker, Michael Matz, & Paula Galloway National Park Service Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO Vital Signs Background WQ Data Mgt. Challenges The Path Chosen Lessons Learned Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA Presentation Overview

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO NPS Organic Act Preservation/Use Mandate Use Very Successful Preservation Record Mixed Vital Signs Background Yosemite National Park, CA Yellowstone National Park, WY Delaware Water Gap NRA, NJ Yellowstone National Park, WY

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO Vital Signs Background By the year 2000, 80 (1/3) of the natural resource parks had no professional natural resource manager Another 84 parks had only 1 or 2 natural resource professionals. Almost all projects/studies were short- term; staff mostly deals with the crisis of the day. Few parks are able to identify the desired future condition of resources, or current status & trend. No TimeNo Money No Clue

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO NPS Natural Resource Challenge Provides funding and new positions for natural resource stewardship to add to NPS visitor services capability Learn what is in parks (inventories), and monitor the vital signs of natural systems Engage the scientific community and the public, and facilitate their inquiries Share the information widely Vital Signs Background

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO Accelerate Inventories Design/Implement Vital Signs Monitoring Collaboration with scientists and others Improve Resource Planning Enhance Parks for Science Assure Fully Professional Staff Control Non-native Species Protect Native and Endangered Species Enhance Environmental Stewardship Expand Air Quality efforts Protect and restore Water Resources Establish Research Learning Centers Revitalize and expand the natural resource program within the NPS & improve park mgt. through greater reliance on scientific knowledge Vital Signs Background

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO The intent of park vital signs monitoring is to track a subset of physical, chemical, and biological elements and processes of park ecosystems that are selected to represent the overall health or condition of park resources, known or hypothesized effects of stressors, or elements that have important human values. Scotts Bluff National Monument, Nebraska Vital Signs Background

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO NPS Vital Signs Networks 270 Parks Grouped into 32 Monitoring Networks

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO Vital Signs Monitoring Framework Level 1 Category Level 2 Category Examples of Vital Signs Selected by First 12 Networks Air and Climate Air QualityOzone, wet and dry deposition, visibility and particulate matter, air contaminants Weather and Climate Weather and climate Geology and Soils GeomorphologyGlaciers, shoreline change, channel morphology, physical habitat index Subsurface Geologic Processes Cave air quality, seismic activity Soil QualityBiological soil crusts, soil structure and stability, soil cover, permafrost Water HydrologyGroundwater dynamics, surface water dynamics, stream flow, lake and pond elevation, saltwater marsh water table Water QualityWater chemistry, chloride flux, kettle pond acidification, nutrient loading and eutrophication, pollutant metals, aquatic macroinvertebrates Biological Integrity Invasive SpeciesInvasive/Exotic plants early detection, areal extent of established populations, exotic aquatic assemblages Infestations and Disease Whitebark pine disease, forest insect/disease outbreaks Focal Species or Communities Landbirds, forest vegetation structure & composition, fish communities, intertidal communities, salt marsh vegetation, seagrass communities, wetland vegetation, riparian plant communities, prairie grassland communities, freshwater mussels, cave aquatic fauna, amphibians, white-tailed deer, caribou, wolves At-risk BiotaT&E plants, western prairie fringed orchid, northern spotted owl, western snowy plover, Ozark hellbender, Allegheny woodrat, Topeka shiner Human usePoint-Source Human Effects Contaminants, illegal roads and trails Non-point Source Human Effects Estuarine nutrient inputs Consumptive Use Fisheries harvest, poaching of native plants and animals Visitor and Recreation Use Visitor usage Landscapes (Ecosystem Pattern and Processes) Fire and fuel dynamics Fire occurrence and extent, fuel loading Landscape Dynamics Land cover and use Soundscape Nutrient Dynamics Nutrient cycling ProductivityProductivity, plant phenology Vital Signs Background

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO Overall Purpose of Vital Signs Monitoring: Assess the efficacy of management and restoration efforts; Provide early warning of impending threats and/or stressors; Provide a basis for understanding and identifying meaningful change in natural systems characterized by complexity, variability, and surprises – improve decision-making. Determine status/trends in the condition of park resources: Vital Signs Background North Cascades National Park, Washington

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO Vital Signs WQ Data Mgt The Challenge

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO WQ Data Mgt. Challenges Archive Data in STORET Data Warehouse Decentralized Network Approach 32 Different Monitoring Programs Scarce Funding/Small Staff Limited or no Top-Down Authority Guidance, but No Standards Remote Locations/Limited Internet Capability

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO Overcoming Challenges Existing Implementation of STORET 17,667 Sites 2,155,540 Results 976 Characteristics 194 NPS Units Committed Staff Regulatory Monitoring Charge/CWA Requirement: Data into STORET Olympic National Park, WA

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO The Chosen Path Two pronged approach: NPSTORET NPSEDD Olympic National Park, WA

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO Microsoft Access-based N.R. Database Template for Water Quality Tailored to flow data to STORET STORET-lite Virgin Islands National Park, VI NPSTORET

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO NPSTORET Main Switchboard

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO NPSTORET Project Template

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO NPSTORET Station Template

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO NPSTORET Metadata Template

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO NPSTORET Result Template

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO NPSTORET Reports & Stats

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO NPSTORET Reports & Stats

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO NPSTORET Reports & Stats

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO NPSTORET Reports & Stats

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO Seamless Import Import Existing Station and Results Data from User Excel, Access, and Text Files Seamless Imports from National WQ Databases NPSTORET NPSTORET Imports Automatic Characteristic Creation

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO NPSTORET Overview Version 0.98 available for download at: Learning Resources Installation instructions Context sensitive help First time users guide Workshop guide Data import instructions Version 1.00 this summer Automatic Installation/De-Installation Streamlined WRD Data Submission Voyageurs National Park, MN

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO NPSTORET Overview Future Versions More Data QA Additional Biological Data Support Depth Profile Graphics Non-parametric Statistics/Trend Analysis Analytical Groups Interface for User-defined WQ Criteria WQX – XML Export Security Auto-Backup User-entered Data Qualifiers Lots of Other Ideas Haleakala National Park, HI

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO STORET Electronic Data Deliverable Hybrid of several state and federal EDDs adapted for NPS Set of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets designed to collect the data necessary to drive SIM NPSEDD – Eddy Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO NPSEDD Overview Project Info Station Info Result Info

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO Designed to drive SIM Current version available for download at: NPSEDD Overview Glen Canyon NRA, UT

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO Vital Signs WQ Data Flow Other DB (post 9/09) (Via WQX post 9/09)

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO Lessons Learned No one size fits all solution Stay flexible Importance of standards Importance of data sharing Cabrillo National Monument, CA

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Fort Collins, CO Contact Info: Dean F. Tucker (970) Additional Info: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, NC/TN National Park Service